Metz & Waltham manufactured vehicle website returns.

After a long hiatus our history website returns. Over the past several years interest in Waltham, Ma. transportation has grown along with vehicles changing hands, being restored and put back on the road.

2022 saw the 2nd gathering of cars and bikes in several years made in the Waltham the Watch City at Gore Place the former home of Charles H. Metz this will be an annual event as part of the Motorheads Annual Car show at Gore Place. Prewar/Brass era vehicles will compliment the yearly return of these vehicles manufactured in Waltham. In addition to information on this site, join our conversation on facebook

We highly suggest that you visit and join the Waltham Museum who we work with to keep Waltham Transportation alive.

1901 Orient winner of the 2022 Metz Award at the annual Motorheads Car Show Prewar/Brass Era class at Gore Place.

Metz vehicle’s to be featured at 2023 Prewar / Brass Era vehicle event in Waltham September 24th.

Orient Buckboard # 4HP 2544

Orient Buckboard # 4HP 2544

My name is Allan McLean and I live in Portage La Prairie,Manitoba, Canada.

We have an Orient Buckboard with Serial Number 4HP 2544.

The car has been in our family from the time it was new.

The car has been in local museums and family storage for a number of years.

I am presently working on the motor and have found that the crankshaft has split on the drive side bushing journal.

I would like to buy a used crank shaft,piston and connecting rod for the motor if there is one available out there.

You can get in touch with me at email address:

alanmrk@hotmail.com

Orient Buckboard #4HP 2544

Old Cranks Motorcar Museum

1922 Metz 22

The patent plate and Selden plate are on the car.

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1906 Orient Buckboard Engine # 3309

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Ladies Orient Bicycle Original and unrestored condition with leather grips and leather saddle.

The 1906 Orient Buckboard, engine # 3309, was purchased from Bill Swiggart of the Swiggart Museum in Huntingdon,PA. around 1950. It was restored by Pete Robinson and sold to Gene T. Fuzzy McKnight around 1954. I purchased it from Fuzzy about 12 years ago. It runs OK. The wheels are incorrect but the correct hubs are there. Some of the body wood was replaced in the 1950’s. The original crank and key are with the car. It is titled as a 1904, but my research leads me to believe it is a 1906. The patent plate and Selden plate are n the car. Oddly there are two Orients in Glaax at the same time about 1952. The second one was found stored on the 2nd floor of the Chrysler dealership, apparently abandoned years before. The whereabouts of this car is unknown.
The 1922 Metz 22 was purchased from a gentleman in Roanoke, VA. aobut 12 years ago. I have little past information about the car. It does start and drive. I was unable to find a number on the engine block. I have two spare engines.

Thomas W. Littrell – Old Cranks Motorcar Museum.
Old Cranks RV Campground, Motor Car Museum & Ice Cream Shop – 407 Railroad Avenue – Galax, Virginia 24333
276-236-5114

We apologize to Tom Littrell for the delay in posting this information. During a move of materials last year the disk and information went missing and recently resurfaced.

Metz / Waltham / Orient discussion group.

Just a reminder for our new visitors and vehicle owners about our Metz / Waltham / Orient discussion group on facebook

2011 Waltham on Wheels (Vehicles built in Waltham)

The 3rd annual Waltham on Wheels will be on July 9th at the Waltham Museum. As this year is the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Metz Airplane Meet at the Gore Estate, there will be a slide show at 2 PM titled
“When the Flying Machines Came to Waltham”. Vehicle owners attending this years event with your vehicle please call the museum by July 5th at (781) 893-9020 and provide the model and year so we may plan for the placement of the vehicles. . http://www.walthammuseum.com

1913 Glidden Tour

1913 Metz Race Team

AAA Welcomes The Nation’s Largest Annual Antique Auto Tour

Residents and visitors to south central Pennsylvania will have a rare opportunity to see up to three hundred vintage cars made prior to 1943 driving the roads in and around Gettysburg, the week of Sept. 9 -14, AAA Central Penn said today.

The event is the 62nd annual AAA Revival Glidden Tour®; the largest and most prestigious antique automobile touring event in the United States. The tour’s visit to Gettysburg will be a tribute to the original AAA Glidden Tourists who stopped in the area on the 1911Glidden Tour; 96 years ago. (The revival tour of antique autos also visited Gettysburg in 1957).

This year’s tour is being organized by the Gettysburg Region Antique Automobile Club of America, and will be hosted by AAA Central Penn.

The antique automobile tour re-creates similar events first sponsored by AAA from 1904 to 1913 to demonstrate the reliability of automobiles and the need for good roads, uniform traffic laws and services for automobile travelers.

This year’s tour will feature daylong trips to scenic and historic spots throughout the area, including antique car museums and collections, as well as the Gettysburg National Military Battlefield Park.

The 2007 AAA Revival Glidden Tour will cover more than 500 miles during its week-long stay and area visitors and residents will be able to view the tour* in and around Gettysburg throughout the week.

*Public participation in the tour is by advance registration only. Special arrangements can be made for media wishing to interview or drive with tour participants by contacting AAA.
The name “Glidden Tour” comes from the 1905 sponsorship of a magnificent silver trophy by early automotive pioneer Charles Jasper Glidden to be awarded each year by AAA to the driver of the winning vehicle. The original Glidden trophy is on perpetual public display in the atrium of AAA’s National Office in Heathrow, Florida.

The Revival AAA Glidden Tours commenced in 1946 for antique auto enthusiasts under the sponsorship of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America — which holds all rights to the event and alternates tour sponsorship each year with the Antique Automobile Club of America.

Different from a car show, the tour emphasizes driving a pre-determined route, re-creating the purposes and traditions of the early AAA events and providing a week of pleasurable daily car trips to points of scenic or cultural interest.

To win the revival AAA Glidden trophy, participants must complete the entire tour without requiring the aid of AAA roadside assistance. Drivers also must complete a set of daily tour cards recording their start and end time for each day’s trip. The qualifying vehicle coming closest to the average time needed for all cars to complete the week’s tour receives the award. A second revival trophy, the AAA Anderson Touring Trophy, also will be awarded.

The purpose of logging daily tour times and calculating a weekly average originated with AAA’s early practice of providing traveling members with the estimated time required to reach a particular destination.

The Antique Automobile Club of America can be visited on the Internet at http://www.aaca.org. The Veteran Motor Car Club of America can be visited on the Internet at http://www.vmcca.org

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides its more than 50 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and secuirity of all travelers.

1908 Waltham Orient Taxicab

May 13th 1908 Horseless Age – The Automobile Trade Magazine, Volume 21
The Waltham Taxicab.

The Waltham Manufacturing Company, Waltham, Mass., have brought out a taximeter cab, an illustration of which is shown herewith. This cab body is mounted upon a chassis which is identical, in the main, with that described in the November 20, 1907, of The Horseless Age, but some detail changes of importance have been made as the results of extensive practical tests.

It will be remembered that the engine employed on this chassis is a double opposed of 14 horse power, cooled by thermo-siphon and mounted transversely under the operator’s seat upon a readily detachable subframe, which also carries the frictional change speed device. This latter, when in the high speed position, consists of two beveled frictional surfaces, operating without sliding action, and for the lower speed ratios the ordinary practice of sliding the friction wheel toward or away from the central point of the friction disc face is followed. The final drive to the rear wheels is by double chains.

A characteristic of Waltham construction is the employment of the unit power plant arrangement—that is, the complete motor and change speed gear, mounted upon their sub-frame, constitutes a unit which is made interchangeable and capable of being easily and quickly dismounted from one vehicle and mounted upon any other vehicle of the same general class.

This practice renders it possible for the users of several of these cabs to save the investment usually required to buy a complete spare vehicle to be used in emergencies or when one of the regular cars requires overhauling. Under this system it is only necessary to carry as a spare equipment one or more of the unit power plants, and as each vehicle in service requires overhauling (which it should receive about once a month if in constant use), its power plant is dropped from the main frame and one of the spare power plants installed in its place. The dismounted power plant is then overhauled and when in perfect condition becomes a “spare,” to be installed upon the next vehicle the power plant of which requires attention. One of the changes recently made is the arrangement of the muffler as an integral part of the power plant. This auxiliary was formerly attached to the main frame and the exhaust connections had

to be broken when the power plant was dismounted. As now arranged the power plant can be placed upon a test stand and run under its own power for testing purposes without any connection being made except for the gasoline and ignition current.

An improved method of attaching the radiator to the sub-frame has been devised and there has been some rearrangement of the belt driven force feed lubricator. The mixture piping is also somewhat differently disposed, as are the flow pipes of the thermo-siphon cooling system.

A new lever for shifting the friction wheel has been designed and a segment provided which determines the gear ratio in use. There are also certain minor changes in the operating linkage which determines

the pressure of engagement of the frictional surfaces.

The body of the vehicle is fitted up in accordance with the best cab practice. Wide flaring metal guards flush with the body lines are used, and there is a complete metal underpan protecting all mechanism from mud.

It is stated that practically all ordinary running is done with the high speed bevel friction gear in use, speed changes being effected by the control of the engine. A5 there is no side travel of the frictional surfaces under these conditions but a pure rolling action, there should be a very small rate of wear of the engaging surfaces and a good efficiency of transmission.

 

Metz Master Six

Metz Master Six Catalog

We are unaware of any remaining Metz Master Six cars. If you know of one please let us know. metzauto@gmail.com

1905 Orient Buckboard Test Drive

Who’s buckboard is this? If you know please email us at metzauto@gmail.com